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July 19, 2007
PAWTUCKET – As the sold out crowd began leaving McCoy Stadium yesterday after Ottawa had taken a 9-1 lead by scoring three runs in the top of the eighth inning, Pawtucket showed the fans that stayed why it should no longer be considered a team that is going to roll over and go away quietly after falling behind in a game.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Jeff Bailey hit a three run home run, Bobby Scales hit a two run home run, and Alex Prieto hit a solo home run to cut Ottawa’s lead to 9-7.
But the PawSox offense stalled there and they suffered a 9-7 loss to the last-place Lynx.
“It got real exciting there towards the end,” Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson said. “I think that was one of our better innings offensively this year as far as driving the ball. That was something special right there.”
Johnson said that the PawSox showed a lot of courage by nearly pulling off what would have been a remarkable comeback.
“It was just one of those things where we gave up a few too many and came up just a little bit short at the end but I was real proud of the ball club,” Johnson said.
Scales went 2-for-3 with a walk, two home runs, two runs scored and three RBI to lead the PawSox offense.
“You’d like to do it in a win,” Scales said about hitting two home runs against his former team. “We had opportunities to win the game and that is the main thing. I know this is the minor leagues and I know that we are here for development purposes but as long as they keep a scoreboard, the aim is to win the game.”
With the score tied 1-1, Ottawa took control of the game in the top of the sixth inning. After Gary Burnham put Ottawa on top, 2-1, with an RBI single, the Lynx loaded the bases for Jim Rushford who hit a grand slam home run on a Mike Burns (2-7) changeup. It was Rushford’s first home run of the season.
“That was probably the longest drought I’ve been in and I was starting to think that I wasn’t going to hit one all year but I came up in the right situation, got a pitch that I could handle, and put a good swing on it,” Rushford said.
Ottawa added three insurance runs in the top of the eighth on Danny Sandoval’s RBI double and Pedro Swann’s two RBI single.
Burns did everything asked of him in the first five innings, limiting Ottawa to just one run on two hits.
“He actually dominated through the first five innings of the ball game,” Johnson said. “His pitches were very low.”
Ottawa, however, batted through the order and exploded for five runs on five hits against a tiring Burns in the momentum-turning sixth inning which forced Johnson to pull him.
The game was close prior to the sixth inning.
Ottawa jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Joe Thurston hit a one out double to deep right-center field. Jason Jaramillo drove him in with a single hit up the middle. Burns calmed down and got the next two batters to ground out and end the inning.
Burns (5 1/3 innings, 6 hits, 6 runs, 2 strikeouts) did not give up another hit until sixth inning, but the PawSox couldn’t amount much of an offense either. Pawtucket didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning. Scales, who entered yesterday’s game tied for third place in the International League with a .316 batting average, sent the first pitch of the PawSox fifth into the bullpen in left field for a solo home run, tying the score, 1-1.
Pawtucket, however, only got one more hit off of Ottawa starter J.A. Happ (2-4), who pitched six innings and limited Pawtucket to just one run with six strikeouts.
“Happ, he’s pretty good,” Scales said. “He wasn’t doing anything particularly tricky, but he’s got a surprise fastball. You see it, you feel like you’re on it, but then you get beat by it. He’s pretty good.”
--ROB LEE
Posted by Corey Bourassa 
at 4:43 PM to PawSox
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